.Our friend in Washington, Julia, left us a comment that caught our attention.

These students have been fundraising and collecting books to send to children in Africa that do not have books. We don’t always think of how incredible it is to be able to get any book we want. This is a wonderful opportunity to be grateful and help make a difference in other children’s lives.

Help make a difference the life of a child!

Today, we were able to meet Mrs. Monaghan’s class in England through Skype. During our blogging conversations, we discovered words we didn’t know and items we hadn’t heard before. We found out that we sometimes call the same things by different names. So, we decided to play a game of International Show and Tell.

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Middleham started us off, “We think you might not know what a Fat Rascal is.” And, we didn’t. When they showed us what it looked like, we yelled, “It’s a cookie!” They told us it was actually a scone. None of the children in our class eat scones, but adults sometimes have it with coffee.

They continued to challenge us with Flat CapIRN BRUDouble DeckerRugbyTeletubbies& Freddo

We knew 3 of their terms.

The Techie Kids tried a few of our own terms too. We asked if they knewGatoradeSkylandersS’MoresVernorsBand-AidBarrette

.They knew or were able to figure out most of these terms. We loved hearing what they called some of the items. We found out that the drink we call pop, they call “fizzy drinks.” They call Band-Aids, “plasters” and barettes, “hair-slides.”

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Here’s an Animoto of the excitement.

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Only 1 student in Mrs. Monaghan’s class had heard of a S’More before. They told us that they would be going camping soon. We thought it was important that they knew how to make these delicious snacks before they left!

We are so thankful for the video you sent us! The student performers did a great job! We can tell they had practiced. The costumes were magnificent. We loved the way they portrayed their characters. We noticed their feet were pointed and this showed their marvelous technique. We liked how they expressed their character. This interpretation seemed less traditional and formal than other ballets we’ve seen. It made the story more unique and interesting. We also have to applaud the choreographer for being able to pull it all together in a beautiful production.

As part of our thank you, we would like to share a little bit of ballet foundation with our readers. Please enjoy our short video of ballet’s basic feet technique.

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***What did you think of how we explained the basic feet positions?

Could you share a story about dancing with us?

Do you have any questions about ballet?

Today, the Techie Kids had a wonderful surprise! We received a package in the mail from the fabulous, Mr. Mannell (@RossMannell). He has been doing an amazing job of supporting my 3rd through 8th grade bloggers.

Here are the links to additional posts that were kicked off by these comments. Please explore them! I’m sure you will love them as much as we have!

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We were thrilled when we opened the Australian package and found a book, Wombat’s Secret, a wombat figurine, and a token from Potoroo Palace, an animal sanctuary where Mr. Mannell took many of his incredible animal photographs.

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Here are some of the amazing images taken by Mr. Mannell that he shared with us and gave us permission to use.

Mrs. Moore is an Indiana Jones fan, so she was excited to share this Google Map, Treasure Map style! 🙂

*Since Australian animals were a big focus of many comments and posts, we’d like to share some pictures of animals in our area with you. Click on the book cover below to read our Michigan Animals book.

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We are so excited that blogging has allowed us to connect with new friends around the world!

Today our first group of Techie Kids had their first chance to Skype while they were at school. We were able to meet Mrs. Kistler and the 49er’s. We were so excited!

This year, 3rd graders learn about our great state of Michigan. We have worked hard to find out about Michigan’s natural resources, symbols, and landmarks. Today we were able to learn about Texas from kids who actually live there!

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This is a Google Earth screen shot of the 49er’s state taken by Ben.

*Madisyn used Google Maps to calculate the distance between our schools. We found out that we are 1,469 miles away, which was about a 22 hour drive. We thought we’d need to pack some snacks, like pretzels, for that drive!

*Here is some of what we learned:

One of Texas’ natural resources is oil. They use salsa as frequently as others use ketchup.The bluebonnet flower is a symbol of Texas and you better not be caught picking one on someone else’s land!Summers in Texas are very hot.Dr. Pepper was created in Waco, Texas.The Alamo, Sea World, and the River Walk are some of their landmarks.One of their state symbols is a Cowboy!Ants in Texas bite!You better double and triple check your backpack before you go anywhere…you just might find a stowaway scorpion!

*Our students were amazed at the response and the facts that you shared! They were very excited to reply to you. We searched each state or country noted in the comments on Google Earth. Our classes were delighted to see the Earth spin and “fly to” each location. They loved seeing photographs taken in each area. We took note of landforms and compared and contrasted them to our own. Our classes are buzzing with adventure as they share places they want to visit and learn more about because of your comments.

A bajillion (yes, bajillion=considerably more than a million) thanks to all of you!

*Our students decided they wanted to share some pictures of what it looks like in our area right now and invite others to compare. Here are some pictures that reflect our cold weather during our current season of Winter.

What are some of the characteristics of different seasons in your community?

The Techie Kids have been working hard in our computer lab. We’ve learned about Internet Safety, avatars, digital footprints, keyboarding, word processing, presentations, animations, spreadsheets, research skills, images, and citations. Whew, that’s not bad for only 40 minutes once per week!

We are finally ready to begin blogging!

Last week, we discussed some of the features of our blog. This week, we will get to leave our first blog comment. Let’s look at the Quality Commenting poster shared with us by Miss Jordan from 4KM & 4KJ in Australia.

Thank you, Miss Jordan!

****Now let’s go straight to some blogging experts to see what they recommend for leaving a quality comment. After you watch them, go ahead, give it a try!